Hundreds of British Airways (BA) pilots will march on the airline”s Waterside headquarters this Saturday 15 March to campaign to stop the outsourcing of jobs for the OpenSkies subsidiary.
”I don”t think they”ve ever done a march like this,” a Balpa [pilot union] spokesman told ABTN.
”This is all to highlight the campaign for stopping the outsourcing of jobs ” we are trying to make an impression on BA and give an outlet for the enthusiasm of our members and their families. International TV coverage is planned which will help press BA to be sensible about this.”
At the same time, American pilots will be picketing the BA terminal at New York JFK and European pilots will be doing something ” it is not clear what yet ” at cities, possibly including Paris and Berlin, to demonstrate their support.
”Because they all fear the same thing will happen to them,” the spokesman said. ”The airline has taken a very novel piece of law ” Article 43 of the EC Treaty - and tried to fit it to an industrial dispute, and that”s caused great concern in unions throughout Europe ” so it”s becoming an international affair.”
Despite talks breaking down on Monday, Balpa has so far refrained from naming a strike date after BA warned it would apply for a court injunction if it did. The airline asserts that it has a fundamental right under Article 43 to establish operations in another EU Member State (the subsidiary OpenSkies will operate from Paris and Brussels to New York).
The Balpa spokesman added, ”We are waiting to hear from the High Court when they can look at this and advise us if it has any relevance on our dispute, and if it doesn”t then we will proceed with giving notice of industrial action.”
The police will be closing the A4 Bath road on Saturday, along which the pilots ” including the crew who landed the stricken Boeing 777 in the Heathrow accident in January - will march.
They plan to arrive at the Waterside HQ at around 2pm, when Balpa general secretary Jim McAuslan will make a speech.